Chapter 9 - Behind Steel BarsThree months had passed since the sentencing.
I stood outside the high, concrete walls of the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the cold winter wind whipping my dark coat against my legs. I had come to sign the final corporate transfer documents, which required my mother’s physical signature to legally dissolve her remaining shares in Ashford Holdings.
I was escorted into a small, windowless visitor's room. Evelyn sat across the thick glass partition, her orange jumpsuit rumpled, her face looking thin, haggard, and completely drained of life. Her once-perfect silver hair was messy and unkempt.
"You came," she whispered, her voice raspy and hollow. "I thought you had completely forgotten about me."
"I came to finish the business of this family, Evelyn," I said coldly, sliding the corporate papers through the slot at the bottom of the glass. "Sign the transfer. All your remaining shares are being converted into a private trust for my daughter, Grace. You have no claim to Ashford Holdings anymore."
Evelyn looked at the paper, a bitter, pathetic smile touching her lips. "Grace... she has my eyes, doesn't she?"
"She has her mother's strength," I said, my voice flat. "And she will never know your name."
Evelyn's hands shook as she took the pen, her signature scribbled at the bottom of the page. "I did it for the legacy, Daniel. The Ashford name was everything to me."
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"The Ashford name is finally clean, Evelyn," I said, taking the papers back. "And it belongs to the people who actually deserve it."
I stood up and walked out of the room, not looking back as the heavy steel door slid shut with a loud, final click, locking her away in the dark prison of her own greed.
